Highlights!

Greetings from Germany!

I haven't had much of a chance to update, as the past couple days have been crazy! While crazy though, they have also been fantastic! I actually still don't have much time, so I'm just going to give you all some highlights of what has happened in the past couple days.

As you probably read in my last entry, I was on my way to Belgium. We only spent a day in Brussels but it was absolutely great. It's a very beautiful, smaller city, and the people were very friendly there. Definately more friendly than the French, but that's not a very difficult task to accomplish. In Brussels, we went to a very famous bar called the Delirium Cafe. They have the Guiness World Record for the most beer offered in any one place. They offer 2004 different beers! The menu is a huge binder about the size of a phonebook, no joke. Only about 15 of them are on tap, including a couple of their own brews, but they pretty much have anything you could want. We even saw some American beers that wehad never heard of before. It was quite strange. One of their brews, the Tremens, was elected as the best beer in the world in 1998. (Megan, ask Alan if he's ever had or heard of this, because if not I want to try and bring a couple bottles back since I think it would be something he could totally appreciate, if not thoroughly enjoy)

After Brussels, we went to Munich, Germany. We only spent a day there as well, but that is truly a wonderful city. We met some pretty cool people in the hostel after we walked around a bit, and then went to the Hofbrauhaus in the evening. This is one of the most famous beer halls in Germany, and definately one of the most popular places in Munich. I promise everyone that I am doing much more than going to bars here, but these are really landmark places, and I feel the need to tell you all about it.

After Munich, we got on a train to Berlin on thursday morning. It was a long ride, and it took all day, but it was worth it. We've been in Berlin for the past couple days now, and it is really my favorite place I've been so far. It's a pretty big city, but everything is still so spread out. The sidewalks are huge, and there are tons of parks and grassy areas where you can just sit and hang out. It's not very much like Chicago at all, or any of our cities at home for that matter. It's a bit scary actually, because I can totally see myself living here and really enjoying it. (Don't worry mom, I'll come home and finish school first)

Last night, we went to the fan fest here and watched the Germany vs. Argentina game outside with the rest of the city. It was AMAZING! This whole place totally erupted when they won after it went through two overtimes and then a shootout. It was insane, and we met some pretty cool German guys who we hung out with for a while afterwards. It was easily the most invigorating sporting event I have ever experienced.

Other than that, I just got up early this morning to go snap some pictures of the city and walk around a bit more before we head to Dresden today. Tomorrow we'll be heading to Prague to start school on Monday, and once I'm there I'll have the chance to borrow my dear friend Ashley's computer and post some of these pics I've been taking the whole time. Love you all!

Jason

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